Punjab coronavirus cases continue to spike; state reports 126 new infections, 6 deaths

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 17

Punjab reported 126 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday—the third consecutive three-figure rise in the state’s COVID-19 cases.

Punjab’s COVID-19 count now stands at 3,497, according to the state’s latest COVID health bulletin.

Six new deaths pushed the death toll to 78, the bulletin showed.

Four deaths were reported in Amritsar. Ferozepur and Sangrur, according to the state government’s medical bulletin.

Three districts—Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar—accounted for 69 per cent of Wednesday’s cases.

A significant proportion Wednesday’s cases—70—were contacts of diagnosed cases. Seventeen were cases categorised as ILI (influenza-like illness) and an equal number had travel history.

Ludhiana reported 40 new coronavirus cases—the highest of any district on Wednesday. Thirty-four were contacts of already diagnosed cases. Three were categorised as ILI and three others were new cases with no contact history.

In Amritsar, 12 were ILI cases and five were contacts of previously diagnosed patients.

Of Jalandhar’s 31, 21 were contacts of diagnosed cases, eight were people who just returned from abroad, and two were new cases with no contact history.

Jalandhar’s coronavirus cases now stands over 400.

Ferozepur (6), Pathankot (6), SAS Nagar (5), Bathinda (4) Mansa (3), Fatehgarh Sahib (3), Moga (3),  Sangrur (2),Patiala (1), Kapurthala (1), Tarn Taran (1), Fazilka (1), Faridkot (1) and Hoshiarpur (1) made up the rest of Punjab’s numbers.

A policeman tested positive in Tarn Taran.

Sangrur reported nine new cases later in the evening, but these have yet to be added to the official tally .

Of SAS Nagar’s five cases, one had recently returned from Gurugram. Three others were contacts of diagnosed cases and one was categorised as ILI.

Of Pathankot’s six, two had recently returned from Delhi, two others were contacts of already diagnosed cases and the last two were new cases.

In Ferozepur, five of six were contacts of diagnosed cases and the last was an ILI case.

Kapurthala’s lone case recently came back from Tamil Nadu.

Fazilka’s lone case recently came back from Delhi. All of Bathinda’s patients were new cases with no contact history and no travel history.  Mansa’s three cases were people who returned from Delhi recently.

Of Moga’s three cases, one had recently returned from Delhi and two were categorised as ANC. Hoshiarpur and Faridkot  both had new cases.   

One of Fatehgarh Sahib’s three cases was a contact of a diagnosed case, one was ANC and the last was a new case.

Besides this, there were 17 cases whose source of infection was outside Punjab. These cases have not been added to the state tally.

The district-wise breakup for COVID-19 in Punjab stands as follows: Amritsar (659), Ludhiana (449), Jalandhar (409), SAS Nagar (184), Patiala (179), Gurdaspur (171), Tarn Taran (170), Hoshiarpur (145),  SBS Nagar (121), Sangrur (164), Pathankot (157), Faridkot (89), Ropar (82), Fatehgarh Sahib (81), Muktsar (73), Moga (74), Bathinda (61), Fazilka (54), Ferozepur (58),  Kapurthala (49), Mansa (37), and Barnala (31).   

The state’s death toll stands thus: Amritsar (25), Ludhiana (11), Jalandhar (10), Hoshiarpur (5), Pathankot (5), Sangrur (4), Gurdaspur (3), SAS Nagar (3), Kapurthala (3), Patiala (2), Tarn Taran (1), SBS Nagar (1), Ferozepur (2), Ropar (1), and Barnala (1)

Amritsar still leads the tally of both infections and deaths—the district has 25 deaths from 659 infections.

Three districts–Amirtsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar—account for 40 per cent of the state’s cases.

Punjab has been seeing a steady rise in coronavirus cases in June—35 per cent of the state’s COVID-19 cases have been recorded in this month alone.

The state has reported 778 new coronavirus cases since June 10.

As things stand today, the state has 881 active cases cases—more than thrice the number of cases it had at the end of May.